Cross another place off my Unesco World Heritage checklist; I've been to Spis Castle, and my Youth Card has struck again. Most historical attractions seem to be 50skk, but I get in for 30. So I save... 80 cents!

I think I failed to really mention the countryside around here, but it's beautiful. This part of Slovakia is very hilly (I can't in all truth say mountainous), with little villages nestled in the valleys or perched on the hillsides. During the ride here yesterday, we drove past fields of sunflowers, straining toward the cloud-shrouded sun. The low mountains are covered with fields, pastures or fields of wildflowers that become pine and fir forests nearer the top; lower down, there are lots of trees that look like some kind of willow, and always the flowers.

The bus to Spissky Podhradie, which is at the foot of Spisska hrad's hill, took 20 minutes. After that, according to Lonely Planet, 1 km to the gate. Only that, perhaps, but in the morning sun, going up a steep slope, it seemed longer, but the lovely wildflowers (so many different kinds, pink and yellow and purple and blue and white!) kept distracting me anyway, so the journey was longer than it could have been.

M-P, you would have been in paradise: a ruined castle, up on a hill, and postcards only 15 cents a piece! The ruins of the castle are quite extensive and the view from the top is amazing. Since I arrived at around 10, I was ahead of the glut of tourists; many were still coming up when I started the trek down at 1. The weather was perfect, and as I ate my little picnic by the ancient Celtic wall foundations, I was rather awed by the fact that I was there, sitting on cool grass, looking out over miles and miles of foreign hills and valleys, farmland and forest.